A shooter's control of a firearm can be differentiated between pistols and rifles. The way a shooter holds a rifle directs most of the recoil energy into the shoulder and torso. As a result, the rifle is easier to continuously keep on target for subsequent shots because major muscle groups receive the recoil energy, and accurate follow-up shots can be made quickly. Pistols, because they are held at arm's length, require more muscle control by the shooter, and, because of that extended grip, reaction moments from firing the pistol, i.e., recoil, must be counter-acted by the shooter's hand, wrist and arm muscles. Because of the near instantaneous duration of the impulse, nearly all of that reaction moment may be sensed in a rotation of the firearm within the instantaneous “center-of-grip,” which may be close to the center of rotation of the pistol. The “center of grip” is also aligned with the effective pivot point of the user's wrist, which may also be thought of as the key point of rotation. The rotation of the pistol resulting from an initial shot delays subsequent shots because the shooter has to expend time adjusting the pistol to reacquire the target prior to firing each follow-up shot. While various attempts have been made to control recoil to reduce firearm movement, recoil is considered the best mechanism for feeding semi-automatic firearms, so recoil elimination is not necessarily desirable.
The Model 1911 is a single-action, semi-automatic, magazine-fed, recoil-operated pistol that served as the standard-issue sidearm for the United States Armed Forces from 1911 to 1985, is still carried by some U.S. forces, and is still popular in the civilian market. The Model 1911, modified for increased accuracy, is popular for use in competitive shooting events. One of the reasons for the popularity of the Model 1911 as a competitive shooting pistol is the draw and break of a 1911 trigger, which has been described as the most crisp, consistent and tunable trigger of all handgun designs. The consistency of the draw and the break of a Model 1911 trigger provides a “feel” that some shooters prefer because it minimizes one variable in the shooting action. However, the Model 1911 suffers from the disadvantage of all prior art pistols in that the placement of the recoil mechanism at such a distance above the shooter's wrist contributes to greater torque about the shooter's wrist, making it difficult for the user to continuously keep the Model 1911 on target for follow-up shots.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,075 to Moon discloses a firearm having a moveable breech locking barrel supported on a receiver by an offset barrel cam lug. Moon discloses a recoil spring that is entirely below the barrel bore, but not the barrel, given that the protruding cam surfaces on the barrel located below the bore that the recoil spring rests against are integral to the barrel. Furthermore, Moon's recoil spring is above the trigger guard area. Moon's design forces the barrel up higher with respect to the shooter's hand, to make room between the trigger finger and the barrel for the captured recoil spring assembly. The placement of the recoil mechanism at such a distance above the shooter's wrist contributes to greater torque about the shooter's wrist, making it difficult for the user to continuously keep Moon's firearm on target for follow-up shots.
Therefore, a need exists for a new and improved semi-automatic pistol that reduces torque about a shooter's wrist by lowering the plane on which the recoil force is acting, thereby redirecting some of the recoil force straight rearward into a user's major muscle groups to prevent undesirable movement of the pistol between shots. In this regard, the various embodiments of the present invention substantially fulfills some of these needs. In this respect, the semi-automatic pistol according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of providing a semi-automatic pistol that reduces torque about a shooter's wrist by lowering the plane on which the recoil force is acting, thereby redirecting some of the recoil force straight rearward into a user's major muscle groups to prevent undesirable movement of the pistol between shots.